Hobbs Farm Implement History

Larry Hobbs grew up on his family farm in Colt, AR and graduated from Forrest City high school class of 1962. He fell in love with and married Katheryn Owens. Shortly after came the firstborn of three sons, Dewayne. Randell would follow and Shannon would come sometime later. The key pieces of Hobbs Equipment were coming together in the Arkansas farming community of Colt.

Larry continued to farm cotton, soybeans, and wheat but it all changed one day when he purchased a 4020 John-Deere tractor with a Long backhoe attachment. Later he would sell the tractor to one farmer, and the Long backhoe attachment to another. Larry quickly fell in love with the used equipment trading business and he and his family worked hard at making this their living while pursuing their dream and passion of helping others in the farming business.

In the beginning, Hobbs Equipment started operation with two employees in a one hundred and eight square foot office building, a paint/detail shop, and a small equipment lot tucked in a corner of the property. At the time, combines cost anywhere from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars and a big tractor would be rated at sixty to eighty horsepower. A new nineteen foot BW John Deere disc purchased at St. Francis County Implement cost fourteen hundred dollars.

After a period of time, the Hobbs’ name earned respect and trust in the farming industry circles. Honesty, following up sales, and good customer service was something realized as paramount. Shannon adds, “Sometimes you have to eat your words and/or the equipment in this business in delivering on what you have promised.”

Fifty-six years and six generations later, Hobbs Equipment has expanded in both equipment sales and parts to become one of the largest new and used equipment dealers in the mid-south and even some exports globally. The property make up of Hobbs Equipment today is over twenty five thousand square foot under roof and thirty-five acres of equipment. Larry and his three sons; Dewayne, Randell, and Shannon continue to run the family operation and they currently have 25 full time employees. Hobbs services farmers from the Dakotas down through Texas and across to the Carolinas. Hobbs also continues to farm twenty-five hundred acres of rice, beans, wheat, and corn and looks for opportunities to demonstrate the equipment they sell to their customers on the family farm.

Although changes are sure to come in this business, Hobbs equipment continues to plow ahead into the 21st century. We gladly accept the challenges that lie ahead and look forward to serving you with customer service based on the Golden Rule… “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” At Hobbs Equipment we enjoy life, what we do, and working with special individuals on a day to day basis. Larry adds, “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been good to us, and if I were doing life over again, I would do just what I do.”